The purpose of this resource is to explore soil and soil properties. Students discover the variability of soils, derive relationships among soils and the soil forming factors, and link the GLOBE Soil Investigation to the students. local environment. Students use soil samples from their homes to identify properties that characterize their soils. They compare and contrast their soils to those of their ... Full description.

The purpose of this resource is to develop an understanding of some of the relationships between soils of different types and water. Students will time the flow of water through soils with different properties and measure the amount of water held in these soils. They will also experiment with the filtering ability of soils by testing the pH of the water before and after it passes through the soil ... Full description.

The purpose of this resource is to measure near-surface soil temperatures. Students measure soil temperatures at 5 cm and 10 cm depths using a soil thermometer. Students will be able to perform a soil thermometer calibration, carry out soil temperature measurements accurately and precisely and record and report soil temperature data. Students will be able to relate soil temperature measurements to ... Full description.

The purpose of this activity is to explore the connections between cloud type, cloud cover, and weather and stimulate student interest in taking cloud type observations. Students observe cloud type and coverage and weather conditions over a five-day period and correlate these observations. Students make and test predictions using these observations. The intended outcome is that students learn to draw ... Full description.

The purpose of this resource is to understand that variations in landscape can affect soil properties. Students investigate variations in the soils around their school to discover that soil properties like moisture and temperature exhibit considerable variability across a single landscape. They also identify factors such as slope, shade, plants, compaction, which affect the appearance of soils and ... Full description.

The purpose of this resource is to understand that soil, under different environmental conditions, plays a role in the decomposition of organic materials. Students use bottle experiments to observe changes in the decomposition of vegetable scraps. Students vary temperature, moisture, and light conditions to determine the conditions that best facilitate the decomposition of organic material in soil. ... Full description.

The purpose of the ESS activities associated with the GLOBE 1987 Global Patterns Poster is to help students understand the broader global context for local GLOBE measurements. Students discover patterns in global maps of environmental data, interpret those patterns, and draw conclusions and make predictions based on them; communicate those interpretations and predictions; and develop an understanding ... Full description.

This activity gives students a hands-on look at why saltwater sinks as they create the smallest of ocean currents in a glass baking dish. They will see firsthand why saltwater is denser than freshwater and why salt sets the seas in motion. Students slowly add saltwater that has been tinted with food coloring to a glass baking dish that contains freshwater. The students then see that the saltwater ... Full description.

This activity has students compare the mass of several rocks in order to find the one with the most mass. After the groups order their rocks by mass, the class reconvenes and the mass in grams is determined. Some students may notice that the biggest rock (the one with the greatest volume) is not always the most massive. This will open the door for the introduction of the concept of density. Full description.

This activity focuses on the need for water on a skiing trek across Antarctica (2,400 miles), on where drinking water would come from, and how fast ice could be melted. Students will create hypotheses predicting the changes water undergoes in becoming ice, determine how much ice needs to be melted to create one 8 oz. glass of water, and how much time it takes to melt enough ice to supply Antarctic ... Full description.